Budapest has become one of Morgan Stanley’s important international technology and analytics centres over the past two decades, with nearly 3,000 employees, according to Dániel Mayer, head of the investment bank’s Budapest office.
Speaking to the Hungarian News Agency (MTI), Mayer said the Budapest office began in 2006 as a mathematical modelling centre and has steadily expanded in importance. It is now the company’s second-largest centre of its kind globally, after India.
Nearly 3,000 employees across multiple fields
Around half of Morgan Stanley’s Budapest employees work in technology, while the office also has significant teams in finance, risk management, analytics and data management. Other functions represented in Budapest include legal, compliance and internal audit. The city is also home to several of the company’s global functions, including sustainable finance and corporate marketing.
Mayer highlighted the continuous increase in the responsibilities entrusted to the Budapest centre as the most important change over the past two decades. In a growing number of areas, global professional decisions are now made in Budapest, rather than teams there simply preparing work or providing support.
The increase in headcount has affected every division. The technology organisation is the largest, with nearly 1,500 employees. Morgan Stanley’s risk management operation began in Budapest in 2008 with just 10 people and now employs several hundred specialists.
One financial team also started with only five employees and has since grown to more than 60 people, now overseeing a global function.
Budapest becomes a global centre of expertise
Budapest has become one of the intellectual centres of Morgan Stanley’s global network, Mayer said. Among the city’s advantages are its exceptional talent pool and strong university system, as well as its time zone, which allows teams to support the Asian, European and US markets.
The knowledge and trust built up over two decades are also important assets, he added. “Global systems are developed and operated from Budapest, and world-class professional decisions are linked to the city,” Mayer said.
Morgan Stanley expands use of generative AI
Artificial intelligence and automation are also transforming the work carried out in finance, technology and risk management. Mayer said Morgan Stanley was an early adopter of generative AI and was among the first companies to deploy generative AI solutions in live operations in its wealth management business.
Budapest-based teams played a central role in developing these tools, while the company’s automation centre of expertise is also based in the city.
Morgan Stanley has now moved from experimentation to company-wide implementation. Some 98% of its employees have access to at least one generative AI tool, while the company is also specifically testing so-called agentic automation.
At the same time, Mayer stressed that the company sees AI as a way of complementing human work rather than replacing it. AI can take over repetitive tasks and provide colleagues with data and analysis more quickly, freeing up their time to serve clients, address strategic questions and, ultimately, make decisions that remain in human hands.
He also believes that the growing use of AI-generated code will increase the need for highly skilled programmers who can review it, making talented developers even more valuable. “This also creates new opportunities, for example for data scientists and technology specialists, and we are continuously training our employees so they can make the most of these opportunities,” Mayer said.
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Focus on the next generation of talent
According to Mayer, the key to Budapest’s competitiveness lies in developing the next generation of talent and encouraging continuous learning. This is why Morgan Stanley has invested in university partnerships for two decades, from education initiatives to internship programmes. The company also continuously trains its employees to use the latest technologies.
Particular attention is being paid to preparing the next generation. Mayer cited the Smartiz training programme, run jointly with the Association of Hungarian Women in Science (NaTE) for secondary-school girls. The programme aims to encourage more young women to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
Mayer said he expects Budapest’s importance within Morgan Stanley’s international organisation to continue growing, primarily as the centre takes on more responsibilities and the tasks assigned to it become increasingly complex.
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